World Trade Organisation protests continue in Seattle

Police in the American city of Seattle enforced a curfew for the second night in succession amid continuing protests against the World Trade Organisation meeting in the city. Tear gas was again used to restore order, after a second night of protests. The protesters say that free trade benefits big business at the cost of jobs and the environment and see the WTO as embodying everything they hate.

However, the streets were reported to be quieter overnight with the number of demonstrators significantly down on the previous evening. President Clinton, who addressed the conference last night, condemned the violence perpetrated by a minority of protestors. However, Mr Clinton expressed support for the views of peaceful demonstrators who want a more transparent, less business-oriented World Trade Organisation.

Trade ministers are reported to have managed to make some progress towards reaching agreement on a global trade liberalisation deal, after the protesters were cleared from Seattle's city centre by riot police last night. Police temporarily sealed off a downtown hotel, in which Mr Clinton was staying, as clashes erupted nearby yesterday. The ministers said that they had progressed in the task of setting an agenda for a new round of talks to cut trade barriers, now that they were able to attend meetings without dealing with the protests.

The police arrested at least 450 protesters as they aggressively enforced a security zone around the meeting's venue, firing tear gas and carrying protesters away. There were around 40 minor injuries. The Mayor of Seattle, Paul Schellm, said that he was extending the curfew, which was hastily imposed on Tuesday night along with a request for reinforcements from the National Guard. Police admitted that they had miscalculated the intensity of protests on Tuesday, when some 30,000 protesters brought the WTO meeting to its knees, clogging up the city and forcing the opening ceremony to be cancelled.

The police tried a new approach yesterday, as President Clinton arrived in Seattle. They sealed off a large area around the meeting venue and aggressively kept protesters off the streets. Police rounded up hundreds of arrested protesters and took them by bus to a former naval facility on the city outskirts. Protesters said that the crackdown violated their civil rights. Sporadic face-offs between the protesters and police continued into the early hours.

Chief among the advances at the meeting today was a crucial concession by the EU to set up a working group to discuss biotechnology, This is a key demand of the United States, which is trying to sell genetically engineered foods in the face of resistance in Europe.